Sample 60th birthday speech

Hello everyone, and thank you for coming. For anyone who does not know me, I am Hannah, Geoff's daughter. Dad asked me not to make a fuss tonight. So I have written a speech, booked a room and invited sixty people.

Sixty years. Dad, I worked it out: that is roughly forty years of driving, and in all that time you have never once been lost. You have taken the scenic route. We took the scenic route to Cornwall through Wales. We took the scenic route to my graduation and arrived in time for the photographs. The sat nav has been in the glovebox, in its box, since the Christmas we gave it to you.

You also have projects. The shed has been "nearly finished" for six years. It has a door, a roof and a kettle, and Mum says that as far as you are concerned that is finished.

But here is what I really want to say. When I was a teenager I played hockey, badly, every Saturday morning, in every kind of weather. And every Saturday there was one parent on the touchline for every single match. He did not know the rules. He shouted "offside" at a sport where it does not exist. But he was there, in the rain, with a flask, for seven years. I do not remember a single score. I remember looking over and seeing you.

That is you all over, Dad. You do not make speeches. You turn up. You turned up with a van when I moved flat, three times. You turn up at Gran's every Sunday. You have turned up for Mum for thirty-four years, and Linda, we all know you are the reason he gets anywhere at all.

Dad, you have taught me that love is mostly being there, and being patient, and never admitting that you missed the turning. I am very proud to be your daughter.

So would everyone please raise a glass. To the scenic route, and to the man who drives it. Happy birthday, Dad. To Geoff.